Analysis: John Brennan news serves as a flash bomb

Share this:

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2018, in Washington. Sanders announced that President Donald Trump will remove the security clearance from former Obama administration CIA director John Brennan, a vocal critic of the president, and the administration will be reviewing the security clearances for a number of other former officials. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Former CIA Director John Brennan, left, and former National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers, rush to a meeting with the Senate Intelligence Committee in their probe of Moscow's meddling in the 2016 campaign, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, May 16, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

‘A CHILLING EFFECT ON OTHERS’: Former CIA Director John Brennan was stripped of his security clearance, President Trump announced yesterday, citing ‘wild outbursts on the internet.’

WASHINGTON — With the retaliatory revocation of former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance, the White House inadvertently revealed its crisis-management messaging strategy — keep big announcements in a pocket to lob later like news flash bombs.

President Trump’s announcement that he was stripping Brennan, a vocal critic of Trump, of his clearance was notable not just because it was an admission that the decision had nothing to do with security, but rather Trump’s anger at Brennan’s criticisms.

The original draft of Trump’s statement given yesterday to some reporters was dated July 26, 2018 — 20 days before yesterday. A new statement with the date removed was given to the press soon after.

That gaffe revealed that Trump had decided to strip Brennan’s clearance last month — days after he threatened to do so — and after Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) met with Trump to urge him to take such action.

The delay of the announcement until yesterday, just as headlines focused on former Trump aide Omarosa Manigault Newman’s claims that Trump was recorded making a racial slur, shows that Brennan’s punishment served a dual purpose: punishing Brennan’s outspokenness and changing the subject.

It worked: Within minutes the news cycle changed, and Brennan himself was giving a live interview on cable network MSNBC.

Still, Trump’s explanation that the decision was based on Brennan’s “erratic conduct and behavior” and his “wild outbursts on the internet and television — about this Administration” spurred free speech concerns.

Trump also revealed a virtual enemies list, ticking off the names of a number of former and current officials — all Trump critics — for whom he is pondering the same action, including former FBI Director James B. Comey, former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, former national security adviser Susan Rice, recently fired FBI official Peter Strzok and current DOJ official Bruce Ohr, whose wife worked during the 2016 election for Fusion GPS — the firm that commissioned a dossier on Trump.

The list was perceived as a warning shot.

Eric Columbus, a former Justice Department and Homeland Security Department counsel, said that while Trump’s move “doesn’t matter for Brennan,” who no longer received security briefings, “it may have a huge chilling effect on others.”

Brennan himself tweeted that the move is “part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump to suppress freedom of speech & punish critics.”

“It should gravely worry all Americans, including intelligence professionals, about the cost of speaking out,” Brennan said. “My principles are worth far more than clearances. I will not relent.”